Playing of the sport hockey involves shooting a hockey puck into a hockey field goal to score points. During play, one player, often referred to as a goalie, attempts to block the opening of the hockey field goal to prevent the hockey puck from entering the hockey field goal. Training hockey players to improve their skills frequently involves practice in shooting the hockey puck at the hockey field goal. Practicing alone, or without a goalie present, is often consider less than optimal, as a hockey field goal is rarely unguarded in actual play.
Over the years, a number of devices have been created to partially block the opening of a field goal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,724 incorporated by reference herein, discloses a series of target goal nets that can be positioned within the opening of a hockey field goal for the pose of at least partially blocking the opening of the hockey field goal. The problem, however, is that the series of target goal nets block only a relatively small portion of the opening of the hockey field goal.
This problem is at least partially addressed by U.S. Patent Publ. No. 2014/0087894, incorporated by reference herein, which discloses a net that is configured to partially obscures the opening of a field goal. The problem with the net, however, is that it is cumbersome to install and remove. Moreover, because the net lacks rigidity, generally the net would need to be connected to both the top and sides of the field goal to prevent a fast moving hockey puck from entering a hockey field goal.
Accordingly, what is needed in the industry is an improved hockey field goal training apparatus that can be quickly installed and removed via a single connection to the hockey field goal, yet is readily collapsible to a storage state for easy transportation and storage.